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August 13, 2008

G121: Red Sox 8, Rangers 4

Lester pitched at least seven innings for the seventh straight start (7.1-7-3-1-6, 108) and earned his 10th win in his last 10 Fenway Park starts (dating back to April 29).

Two of the three runs charged to Sid scored on a home run allowed by Mike Timlin. Justin Masterson pitched the ninth, allowing a leadoff double and a walk, but then starting a 1-6-3 double play and getting a foul pop-up.

Back-to-back two-run doubles from Kevin Youkilis and Jason Bay gave the Red Sox a nice third-inning cushion. Jed Lowrie added a two-run two-bagger in the fifth.

Yook doubled in each of his first three at-bats. Bay and Lowrie each had a single, double, walk, and 2 RBI. Dustin Pedroia doubled and singled.

The Yankees lost to the Twins 4-2 this afternoon to fall 8.5 GB Tampa Bay and 6 GB the Red Sox in the Wild Card race. ... Tampa Bay leads Oakland 1-0 in the 1st.

got looked at today, he got an MRI, and we're going to need to DL him. We're not going to know today or tomorrow the length of this. We're all hoping it'll be shorter, rather than longer ... The things that worry you with the oblique are -- you always hear the doctor say, when it stops hurting, wait a week -- because these things have a way of nagging.

The Lowell signing gets more depressing as the season wears on - ZIPS had him dead to rights (although he's been slightly better than projected, that projection wasn't fantastic to begin with), and there's no real reason to expect him to become less injury-prone or more like his 2007 season. Signing A-Rod was probably never an option, but it's hard to think that Lowell's going to pay off in '09 and '10. At least the contract isn't as horrible as, say, Giambi's or Damon's.

I'll never feel bad about the Lowell signing. Not to mention that it was a bit of a deal-breaker to get Beckett as well. But Lowell has been right up there with Beckett in terms of helping the team. Too bad he's on the DL now but that was expected.

They should send a shuttle bus down to Pawtucket! They're going to need it to ship all those kids up here!

Byrd on porn (from this Oct '07 ESPN interview about his written-but-not-yet-published book):

I've had a real struggle with pornography, from before I became a Christian, when pornography was the good old American way. After I became a Christian, it really began to bother me, but God didn't really take it away. I struggle with porn one night, and somebody asks me a question about Jesus the next day in the outfield, so you feel like a hypocrite trying to share. It's the elephant in the locker room.